1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to methods and apparatus for displaying a sequence(s) of pictorial images on a video display or other monitor or in a window(s) on such a display or monitor and, more particularly, to methods and apparatus in which a pictorial user interface (hereinafter referred to as the "pictorial user interface" or "PUI") is provided to a user in a manner so that the images are synchronized with a time-of-day clock provided by the display or other monitor or a computer connected to the display or other monitor to enable the user to visualize the time of day and the time expended by viewing the evolving PUI on his or her display or other monitor, as well as the evolving PUI for others in different time zones, different geographical locations, or different environments.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Command line interfaces and graphical user interfaces are commonly used for locating and displaying text and graphical files on a computer video display. In a command line interface, such as that provided by the MS-DOS operating system by Microsoft Corporation of Redmond, Wash. or by the UNIX operating system by UXIX Systems Laboratories, Inc. and other vendors, a particular text command, such as "copy" or "delete", is entered by a user on a keyboard connected to the computer, and the results of the keyboard entry are displayed on the screen of the display. In a graphical user interface, such as that provided by the WINDOWS operating system by Microsoft or the MACINTOSH operating system by Apple Computer, Inc. of Cupertino, Calif., a graphical display with windows, scroll boxes, pull-down menus, and icons is provided for user manipulation by use of a keyboard and pointing device (called a "mouse") similarly connected to a computer and a video display.
Recognizing the fact that computer users are not always executing commands or otherwise manipulating their displays, a number of vendors have introduced static screen displays called "screensavers" which display one or more textual, graphical, and pictorial images after detecting user interactivity over a period of time. Some commercial screensavers provide static pictorial images solely for ornamental purposes. Most commercial screensavers to date provide simple textual or graphical images to act as a security lock over the display. More recent commercial screensavers have provided animation of text, graphics, and other audiovisual materials. These screensavers provide no indication of the time of day or meaningful indication of the passage of time.
Other software packages available from various computer software vendors provide options for selecting the background or "wallpaper" for the command interface. These backgrounds also provide no indication of the time of day.
The prior art evidences three approaches to provide a visual indication of time of day or the passage of time. The traditional approach is to simply display the time as numeric indicia in either standard (AM/PM) or military 24-hour format at a given location on the video display or monitor. The other known approaches are a) live web cams and b) animated clocks.
Live web cams, for example, "surf cams" at http://www.surflink.com/, provide a real-time view of the outdoors, which may provide an indication of the approximate time of day to the user; that is, the evolving scene may be interpreted as a general indication of the time of day and the passage of time. However, this approach has the disadvantage that an external connection to provide a live feed is required. Furthermore, the time-of-day indication is accurate only if the web cam is located in the same time zone, as well as in the same geographical vicinity, as the user.
Animated clocks include: "XEarth", which draws an animated picture of the rotating Earth on the video display; "Seize the Day", which animates a single static image to reflect the time of day; as well as "World Watch", which is a typical world clock depicted as a pattern of sunlight moving across a map of the earth. These animated clocks provide the user with a general indication of the time of day but require the computer to produce animated images on the fly. Since animation requires the computer to generate the displayed images, the images are necessarily relatively crude, and, consequently, the displayed images are typically neither aesthetic nor particularly realistic.
It would be desirable to provide a process and integrated system for retrieving and displaying a series of pictorial images comprising a pictorial user interface in a manner which is synchronized with the time-of-day clock provided by the computer or display or other monitor and which changes the displayed portion of the pictorial image in a manner that allows the user to visualize on his or her display the time of day and the time expended for the geographical location or environment of the user, as well as for the geographical location or environment of one or more other users of computers who are located in one or more different time zones or different geographical locations or environments.